The daugther of a poor sugarcane cutter and one of nine siblings, Velazquez was born in rural Puerto Rico in 1953. She started high school at 13, and enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico at 16. She graduated magna cum laude and was the first in her family to graduate from college in 1974.

Already clearly an overachiever, Nydia got her master's in political science from NYU, and spent a stint teaching at University of Puerto Rico and then Hunter College. In 1984, she became the first Latina appointed to the New York City Council. In 1992, she was the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and has kept her seat since. Her district encompasses parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Lower East Side.

Valezquez is the top Democrat on the House Small Business Committee, and calls herself a "vocal advocate" of small businesses and entrepreneurship.

[Image via Getty]